The degradation of Black women in musical media
The severe degradation of Black women in film intensified with the introduction of musical media. Media such as the music video provided the vehicle for the validation of negative representations of African American women. Thus my research will focus on the portrayal of Black women in film, specifically involving music, and how these representations are contemporary extensions of the long- standing stereotypes about the sexuality of Black women. Particularly my research will concentrate on the music video from a cinematic perspective, breaking it down to its most basic elements and applying it to the portrayal of the Black woman in media. In addition, I want to take a historical approach in introducing the role of the Black woman in film, and her stereotypical depiction. One of the questions that has driven this research is how the severe degradation of African American women in musical media intensified with the emergence of Hip Hop media (the music video). Telling the story through the lens of four traditional stereotypes associated with Black female sexuality, my research will touch on the history of representation of African American women in film by the white community, and how that stereotypical depiction continues and intensifies when people from within the African American community perpetuate those same representations.
School:
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Department:
Communications
Research Advisor:
Jessica Millward
Department of Research Advisor:
African American Studies
Year of Publication:
2005